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| billyweeds |
 Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2015 8:41 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Just saw Marion Cotillard in Two Days, One Night, and that means I've seen all the acting nominees. Cotillard was wonderful, but she can't touch Julianne Moore, who is a lock for Best Actress, as is Patricia Arquette in the supporting category.
The men's races are both going to be nail-biters. In the supporting race, it is impossible to find an unworthy performance--all five men are mind-blowing. Duvall is slightly less so than the other four, mainly because The Judge is a piece of cheese. Between Hawke, Ruffalo, Simmons, and Norton it's ridiculous. My artistic vote would go to Hawke, who is awesome beyond reason. But my heart belongs to Ruffalo. Simmons is a great character actor at the very top of his game, and Norton is a great actor doing wonders with a character role.
Best Actor? Cooper does not belong in the same company as Keaton and Redmayne, but (to a lesser degree) neither do Cumberbatch and Carell. The three non-Keaton/Redmayne slots should be held by Jake Gyllenhaal, David Oyelowo, and Timothy Spall--three great performances (as opposed to two excellent and one good). |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 3:09 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9015
Location: Shanghai
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Gone Girl.
Certainly a well put-together film.
But it got rather silly in its plot twists, and was overlong, as Fincher films tend to be. The acting is good but the scripting is rather a lot of nonsense. Why on earth is Amy such a manipulative sociopath? Why wouldn't she just leave her husband since everything is in her name anyway? Why would she want him back? And while it was amusing that she had little post-it notes on her calendar with a monthly thought "Kill Myself?" -- I didn't get at all why she would be suicidal or consider leaving her corpse behind.
Anyway, it was interesting enough to make it through the long run time, but not my cuppa. I think I liked the sister and the detective best, interesting supporting characters.
I found the whole Search for Amy stuff a little odd. Suddenly there is the massive and well-orchestrated campaign that springs up. Wasn't sure if that was supposed to be the power/will of Amy's parents (who turned her childhood into a career), or a response to the Amazing Amy fame, or a combination of the two. In any case, I liked how Affleck kind of wanders into this big on-going operation and he's kind of an outsider and unsure how to act. That worked fairly well.
So I thought it was a well-made film, and had some good moments and supporting characters, but a silly plot that goes off the rails. Kind of like a highly polished, stylish DePalma film ...
Edit: I forgot to mention the over-written dialogue, where everyone has a witty line or a hip comment at the ready. There's tons of examples, especially in the first 1/3 of the film. One I quickly recall is in the airport, where the host on TV is talking about Affleck's relationship with his sister, and some random guy sitting near Affleck turns to his companion and says "twincest." It's like the world is made up of bloggers all trying to out-hip each other, or something. I can forgive it in scenes such as where Affleck picks up Amy at the party, but the whole film is written/spoken that way -- especially in the first half. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:34 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9015
Location: Shanghai
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The Double.
Not sure if anyone has seen or commented on this.
Felt very much like a Terry Gilliam film -- sort of a cross between Brazil and Soderbergh's Kafka. This film creates a good mood. And posits a rather retrograde future. I usually like doppelganger films/stories, and am fine with absurdity or farce. Eisenberg is fairly good with a weird awkward part(s). But it seems to just carry on in the same vein and sort of leads nowhere. The film just seemed unsure where it wanted to go.
There are some nice moments, like a double mirror on the train, so Eisenberg's reflection is surreally skewed. The one drawing he pieces back together is rather clever. Etc. The film did seem to ty to hard to insert quirky and then quirkier music. And while the drab brown and grey palette was effective, it also became a bit oppressive (probably the point, but it visually wore me down). It's a decent film, but I wouldn't get more excited than that ... |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:51 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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re Selma - I would like to have seen more of the jeering crowds. They provided half the energy. Who can forget those hateful girls at Little Rock High, defiant in their petticoats, afraid, unprepared for the unimaginable.
The AF sent me to Selma in Sept. '65. What I heard a few times was that Jews were fornicating on the side of U.S. 80. "How do you know?" "I saw them!" |
Last edited by yambu on Wed Jan 21, 2015 1:42 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 1:02 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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Now that would a whole different movie. Is Mila Kunis available?
Quote: The Double.
Not sure if anyone has seen or commented on this.
Felt very much like a Terry Gilliam film -- sort of a cross between Brazil and Soderbergh's Kafka. This film creates a good mood. And posits a rather retrograde future. I usually like doppelganger films/stories, and am fine with absurdity or farce. Eisenberg is fairly good with a weird awkward part(s). But it seems to just carry on in the same vein and sort of leads nowhere. The film just seemed unsure where it wanted to go....
I had a similar impression, and commented here a while back. The formula was something I usually go for, also. I liked Mia Polishlastnameska, too, but really I didn't feel any of the actors were really able to uncover/discover their characters. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:05 pm |
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yambu wrote: re Selma - I would like to have seen more of the jeering crowds. They provided half the energy. Who can forget those hateful girls at Little Rock High, defiant in their petticoats, afraid, unprepared for the unimaginable.
That brings to mind the Polish girl screaming at the Jews in Schindler's List. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2015 5:40 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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bartist wrote: but really I didn't feel any of the actors were really able to uncover/discover their characters.
Mia W was good, just her part seemed limited.
I liked the scene in the crappy restaurant where she talks about the creepy guy stalking her.
I felt like the director went for interesting visual images and mood creation, but didn't provide interesting enough characters. They were the right types and looked the part, but didn't have substance or depth. In this type of film, you either need well-developed characters, or enough interesting action/twists to keep everything afloat. I'll be interested to see what else this director (Aoyade?) tackles, but this was a nice effort without enough spark. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 5:00 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: AZ
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So glad I chose Selma to be one of the few films I've seen lately. At that time I was pregnant with my first son.....no tv or newspaper. In an art school where the philosophy was that there wasn't anything more important than making your art.
So, it was not one of my memories of MLK. My impression was: how hard it was for King to do this. That it wasn't clear cut in his decision making process. 2 things: the LBJ controversy.......was he intended in the film to be the push back figure that heightened the drama or was his characterization false? At the end of the credits was a disclaimer that the film was not a careful copy of the reality......but some aspects were fictionalized.
And why no Oscar acclaim? I noticed the song Glory at the end......the lyrics had something about Ferguson and hands raised. And the movie had a significantly negative portrayal of white police officers. Was the Academy wanting to stay away from a volatile current issue? Definitely the actor who portrayed King (bad memory for unusual names) deserved a nomination. His voice was not melodious like King's but he was brilliant at showing the depth of the man. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2015 8:28 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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The name is David Oyelowo. Remember it. And I disagree that his voice is less attractive than King's.
Pronounce it "Oh-YELL-oh-woe." And number his non-nomination among the most egregious of all Oscar travesties. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:23 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Upstate NY
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| Paddington is less funny than I had expected. Probably seeing it with a full house might have made it more enjoyable. I was the only person in the theater. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:43 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Has anyone seen or heard of Stonehearst Asylum?
Brit thriller with a high-powered cast (Kate Beckinsale, David Thewlis, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Kingsley, Michael Caine ...).
A Limey friend of mine raved about it, but might just be rooting for the home team. Opened late Oct in the US -- a week before Halloween. I don't recall hearing word one about it ... |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 11:52 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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| Looked like a Ro2 with Shutter Island and has Ben Kingsley cast in role very similar to the one he had in SI. I'm curious enough I will probably have a look, when it streams. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:25 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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bartist wrote: Looked like a Ro2 with Shutter Island and has Ben Kingsley cast in role very similar to the one he had in SI. I'm curious enough I will probably have a look, when it streams.
I saw Stonehearst Asylum. Absolutely terrible, and the worst thing about it was the phoned-in yet over-the-top turn by Sir Ben, who is becoming the British knight-of-the-realm version of a De Niro-Pacino-style paycheck whore. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 7:36 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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Too bad. And there's that Caine fella.
Mordecai - sounds like people are hating it. Loved this, from David Edelstein: "The badness settled over the audience like nuclear ash. " |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 10:01 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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It's Mortdecai.
We have Whiplash and The Theory of Everything in south Oklahoma City, so I have a chance to watch seven of the eight Best Picture nominees by the Oscars, the exception being the Wes Anderson entry. I also ordered two of the three animated films I haven't seen, but one of them won't be arriving until March. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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